An HP exec has said that the company will get back into tablets following its disastrous TouchPad endeavour, but hinted that the mysterious slates would likely be aimed at businesses rather than ordinary folks like you or me.

During a question and answer session at a Shanghai press event, executive vice-president of HP's printing and personal systems group, Todd Bradley, confirmed the company was planning on making tablets running on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system.

"I'm very comfortable with where we're going with tablets," Bradley said, going on to comment, "I know we will have very competitive products with probably more of an enterprise and small business focus than a consumer focus."

Bradley's words suggest that in the future HP might be keeping its nose out of the consumer market, instead working on selling tablets in bulk to big businesses.

Supplying corporations is already a big part of HP's business, and it's not the only tech company making its money that way -- BlackBerry-maker RIM sells its email-adept mobiles to massive organisations, for example.

Windows 8 tablets are just around the corner and many tech companies will be taking up Microsoft's Windows Phone-inspired platform in an effort to challenge Apple's dominant slate. But I wouldn't be surprised to see HP taking a back seat for this particular battle.

Yesterday HP unveiled a raft of new technology, but amid new printers and business PCs, the only gadgets aimed squarely at ordinary shoppers were a few new laptops (including the HP Envy Spectre XT), hinting that perhaps the company is withdrawing even more from the fierce consumer tech battle.

What do you think Windows 8 tablets will be like? Would you like to see HP taking on Apple once again? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.